by Dale Mayer
MASON’S WISH
SEALs of Honor, Book 8
Dale Mayer
Books in This Series:
Mason: SEALs of Honor, Book 1
Hawk: SEALs of Honor, Book 2
Dane: SEALs of Honor, Book 3
Swede: SEALs of Honor, Book 4
Shadow: SEALs of Honor, Book 5
Cooper: SEALs of Honor, Book 6
Markus: SEALs of Honor, Book 7
Mason’s Wish: SEALs of Honor, Book 8
Evan: SEALs of Honor, Book 9
SEALs of Honor, Books 1–3
SEALs of Honor, Books 4–6
Table of Contents
Cover
Title Page
About the Book
Complimentary Download
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Author’s Note
Complimentary Download
About the Author
Also by Dale Mayer
Copyright Page
Back Cover
Mason loves his life with Tesla, but living together isn’t enough. He wants more. He wants it all. He wants forever.
All set to make this a memorable Christmas for the two of them, he calls her at home and hears her cry out as she fights off an attacker. Racing to her rescue, he finds her missing – again.
Determined to put the horrific memories behind her, Tesla is looking forward to a bright and happy future. But someone nursing a grudge has decided it’s payback time.
Their lives change in a flash as Mason races to save Tesla before they lose their future – and each other.
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Chapter 1
Mason Callister wrapped the sweaty towel around his neck and headed to the showers. Two days after returning from overseas he was more than ready to be done here and get home to Tesla. With all the delays leading up to his departure, he’d been afraid he wouldn’t make it home for Christmas. Tesla’s work had hit a huge snag too, so she hadn’t managed anything yet either. Now with just a few days to go they had a lot to do.
“Did you ask her yet?” Swede asked as he passed by on his way to his locker.
Mason shot him a look. A look identical to the one he’d shot Hawk and Dane not five minutes ago. He shouldn’t have mentioned it to his friends. But when he finally bought the ring, he couldn’t help but show them. They’d been there when he’d met Tesla months ago. In fact, he had to wonder if his relationship with her hadn’t spawned an incredible sequence of events bringing most of his friends into contact with perfect partners themselves.
Who knew? But it was as if they all found something in his relationship they wanted for themselves and had been lucky enough to find it one at a time.
After his shower, he dressed quickly and with a good-bye to the others he headed home. To Tesla. Someone he’d often thought about but never dreamed he’d meet and end up falling in love with. She was so damn special, he couldn’t imagine how he’d survived before her.
His truck started up easily, but the oil light came on. What the heck? He’d just had it in for servicing. His gut hardened. Not prepared to take a chance, even knowing Tesla was waiting for him, he hopped out and walked around the truck. Sure enough, there was a large spill slowly trickling down toward the back wheel on the passenger side where Shadow’s Jeep was parked.
Shit.
He glanced around the almost empty parking lot, his gaze taking in the vehicles he knew and those he didn’t. There were more of the former. He and the guys had come here for a workout before everyone headed home.
He’d pushed the time slightly but now, as he stared at his truck, he was definitely going to be late.
Oil continued to drip. Way too big a puddle to make him happy. What the hell was going on?
As he straightened he saw Shadow and Swede walking out the front door toward him. “Truck problems?” Swede asked.
“Oil leak. But I just had it in for servicing.”
Shadow studied his face then dropped to a crouch and studied the oil flow. “This didn’t just happen on its own,” he announced. “No way. No how.”
“It’s not that easy to get at it to do any damage though,” Mason argued. “We instinctively think sabotage, but there’s no reason to think that here.” At least he hoped there wasn’t. Not right now. Not with the Christmas holiday looming.
“At least no reason you want to think about,” Swede suggested. “You’re getting your name and face out in some high profile cases. Shadow and I, we’re there but always in the background, which is the way we like it. But you…”
Mason stared at the oil, his mind trying to figure out what the deal was. “It must be the oil filter gasket.”
“Maybe.” Only Shadow’s voice was bland, neutral. Too neutral. “But I doubt it.”
“I’ll call a tow truck. Maybe one of you can give me a lift home?” Mason asked. “I’ll try to put a rush on getting this repaired.”
“I will,” Swede said as Mason made the necessary call.
“And I’ll stay here and wait for the tow truck,” Shadow muttered as he peered under the truck. “I want a closer look at the damage.”
Torn, Mason stood undecided. He needed to know if this had been done deliberately. They saw too much in their lives to let anything go by chance.
“Have you heard from Tesla in the last couple of hours?” Swede asked in a low voice.
Shit. Mason pulled out his phone and called her. Swede was right, if anyone had done this it was more likely to get at her than at him. Why hadn’t he thought of that?
“Mason?” Her sweet voice filled his ear. “I thought you’d be home by now.”
Relieved, he quickly filled her in on the truck.
“Oh no, that’s terrible.” A soft gasp sounded. Then silence.
“Tesla?” Mason asked, his voice rising. “What happened Tesla? Talk to me…”
No answer.
He spun to stare at his men and said in a dark voice, “She stopped talking mid-sentence.”
“Like she was hit? Or…”
He didn’t answer. Mason was already sprinting to Swede’s truck. As they raced out of the parking lot, he could see Shadow back on his feet, his phone out in his hand calling more men in. Mason lost sight of him as Swede drove his truck out of the parking lot. They weren’t far from his house, but it seemed like hours. Longer. The truck finally ripped into his driveway at the same time Cooper and Evan drove up from the opposite direction.
The front door was closed…and locked. Frowning, Mason unlocked it and barreled inside.
“Tesla? Are you here?” he yelled as he ran into the kitchen then on to her office at the back of the house. She’d been working on a problem with one of her programs and wanted to do the troubleshooting here in private even though she had a secure office on the base. But she hated interruptions and worked better in her own surroundings. She’d promised that nothing she was working on would be helpful to anyone in any way and that she’d be in no more danger working from here than from the office.
As nothing untoward had happened since their first initial meeting, he’d believed her.
Now as he stared in horror at the upturned chair and loose papers strewn across the floor, he realized he shouldn’t have.<
br />
“Tesla,” he roared, spinning around the small room. He headed for the stairs and did a quick thorough search of the second floor. Nothing. No sign of her. When he’d left this morning she’d already been working, still in her comfy pjs.
They both knew they had things to deal with tonight in preparation for the holidays. The small box in his pocket a constant reminder of the one Christmas gift he desperately wanted for himself. They’d wanted everything ready before the crazy shopping began – and had missed the mark by weeks.
And now he had to wonder if he’d lost the most important thing in his life.
Chapter 2
How had she not seen it coming? Tesla lay quietly in the back of the van, still stunned at the speed with which she’d been carried off. She’d really come to hate assholes – all of them. Hadn’t she been kidnapped and hurt more than enough? Surely this shouldn’t still be happening. And how the hell did anyone know she was working from home today? She’d turned on the security and been in the office since Mason left before seven. Outside of the many trips to the bathroom and to the kitchen to refill her empty coffee cup, she’d been buried in work. Important work. And now she had to wonder if the two weren’t related. The thing was she hadn’t been completely honest with Mason.
What a mistake that had been.
It was hard to know what to say when you suspected a coworker of tampering with the programs. She hadn’t wanted to accuse anyone without proof. Just even voicing her concerns seemed to cement the probability.
She was sure someone was making changes to the code but with the security she had installed it shouldn’t be possible. But it was happening. She’d contacted security and the commander and had told him of the breach. She’d informed him that she’d be staying home to look into the issue further without prying eyes watching her progress. But she’d not told Mason.
And why was that?
Because he’d have stayed home to look after her.
And that was a problem why?
Because she didn’t want to be a burden.
Her mental preamble came to the conclusion it was all about her father again. And his expectation that she was to handle life on her own. Not lean on someone else. Hadn’t she dealt with that yet? Apparently not.
Damn.
Mason was going to be pissed when he found her.
And he would.
No way he wouldn’t. She examined that belief a little deeper and realized she trusted him with her life and had done so for a long time. A bond that hadn’t changed through the months they’d been together. Their relationship had only grown over time, deepened in emotion, in depth as they argued and laughed and loved… God had they loved – still loved.
She refused to give that up.
These assholes were just going to have to wait. They’d learn soon enough. Mason was coming.
And he was going to kick their asses.
*
Mason went to his computer and pulled up the video cameras that secured his home. They had better security than most places because of Tesla. She was highly regarded in her field and worked on very high-level secret shit – most that he didn’t even know about. And he’d be damned if anyone was going to snatch her again – except they had – and he needed to know how.
“Anything on there?” Swede asked, rocking on his heels. Mason knew his friend was itching to get his hands on the computer, being the geeky type. Though Mason wasn’t as good, it didn’t take a geek to see the video feed as two men in black, faces turned away from the camera, put on masks and broke into the back door of his house. Somehow someone had shut off the security system.
Both he and Swede watched in hushed tones as Tesla was carried out seconds later. She was giving them hell. He had no audio on the feed but could hear her voice in his mind.
“Mason is coming. He’s going to give you hell for touching me.”
One of the men, taller, broader than the other, reached down and slapped her across the cheek. Instantly she slumped in place. Mason was already half off his chair, anger vibrating through his hand as he grabbed the monitor as if intending to punch his fist through the glass and hurt the asshole.
Swede grabbed his arm. “Easy. We have to grab them before you can punch them.”
Mason settled down slightly. Switching from camera feed to camera feed, they watched as a white service van with the name of an HVAC company on the side drove out from behind the house and backed out onto the main road. The license plate was easy enough to see. Swede pushed him out of the way and set about taking copies of the specific shots they needed and contacting security on base.
Mason was on the phone to the commander within seconds. They’d already warned security, but no one had any idea what or how she might be transported after this – or why?
He was terrified that at some point someone might decide she wasn’t worth the trouble of keeping alive, and they’d just kill her. The mindset being that if they couldn’t use her for their own gain then they’d stop the US Military from using her too.
He hoped the enemy wasn’t to that point. The last time was bad with an ex-friend of his leading the pack. Yet they’d solved that mess, recovered Tesla and taken out the bad guys, even finding a rotten military apple on the base here. All in all a shitty deal that had ended well.
Especially as he’d ended up with Tesla.
But here…now…what the hell was going on? Who wanted her? And why?
“Security has been alerted,” the commander said. “We’re looking for the vehicle now. The company says the van went missing last night. They filed a police report this morning.”
“Of course it did.”
Mason hung up the phone, his throat tense as he watched the van leave again on the monitor. He couldn’t stay here.
He had to do something constructive to get her back.
Now.
Chapter 3
Her cheekbone still stung and her head ached from the last blow she’d received after regaining her senses. She was going to kick that guy in the nuts and make him sing a different tune next time she had the chance, or at least she would when the pain no longer radiated down her legs and arms.
Mason was going to be livid if he found out what the big guy had done. His name was Steve according to the bits of conversation she’d overheard. The other one was Fred. Did people still call their kids Fred? She couldn’t remember ever meeting anyone younger than sixty with that name and this guy was much younger. Early thirties, maybe.
Not that he was going to get any older. Mason would fix him.
“Mason is already tracking you,” she called out.
“Damn. Would you shove something in her mouth to shut her up?”
She really hated that idea. Giving up, she slumped down and closed her eyes. Maybe they’d think she was out cold again at this point. Her shoulders throbbed with a remembered pain she wanted to never experience again. Having her arms tied behind her back hurt. She worried it would cause permanent damage to her fingers. That she could live with, but it would be a pain in the ass to lose the functionality given her line of work. She let her body relax as her mind raced to find a way to escape. There were no windows on the van and the back door was likely locked. Of course it would be locked. But did the lock release from the inside or did the driver have to unlock it like on the new automatic cars?
Lying loose in the back, her body rocked with every corner. At least the back of the vehicle was jammed full so she didn’t roll too far. And that’s when she realized she was lying on something small and hard. Just big enough to make her that much more uncomfortable.
Studying the interior of the van, she frowned. It was an older model. They’d have to ditch it soon enough. The traffic cams would pick it up and track them throughout the city.
Damn it. They must have hit an interstate to be moving at this speed.
She’d been counting on the alert getting out faster than that. But of course these guys had their timing down pat. It was also one of
the downsides to living here. She and Mason had discussed moving off base to a different location, but they were close to work and had friends within walking distance. They might end up making a change down the road, but it was hard to say when.
“Call Grant and let him know we’re clear. We need to complete the delivery then we can ditch the ride.”
The van had picked up speed and now moved into mainstream traffic. If she’d been trying for the back door she had missed her best chance when the van had slowed down. Now she was afraid that form of escape would mean getting hit by a second vehicle driving close behind who wouldn’t be able to stop in time – if they even saw her before they drove over her.
She groaned softly. She’d been too slow and they’d heard her. “Why is she even awake? I thought you hit her hard enough to knock her out for the rest of the afternoon.”
“I did too,” Steve said. “She’s got a hard head. If you think we need to I can go and knock her out again. She’s trussed up pretty good though. If she tries anything at this point, it won’t go well for her.”
“And then we don’t get paid, remember? They want her alive long enough to check over her work and see if they need her skills first. And if her laptop isn’t what they were looking for at least they have her.”
Tesla closed her eyes and swore inside. Damn it. They were after her work again. Who knew about the stuff she was working on right now except others on her team? Surely they wouldn’t be involved? But she’d been double crossed for money before. It wasn’t unlikely that it would happen again. She’d just hoped it wouldn’t.
“What the hell is the work she’s doing that’s so damn special?” Fred growled. “The job would be much easier if we’d just had to steal the laptop.”
“Yeah, but she’s military, so what if it’s triggered to blow up or something?” Steve said, nervousness edging his voice. “We might need her to get the stuff off of there.”
